


but the lows are so extreme

by bluebluewater



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Self-Harm, Violence, be cautious, just typically heavy stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 06:01:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16034456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebluewater/pseuds/bluebluewater
Summary: “Well, I know why Chara climbed the mountain. It wasn’t for a very happy reason.”“Maybe… the truth is… Chara wasn’t really the greatest person.”





	but the lows are so extreme

**Author's Note:**

> ....that the good seems fucking cheap

“Hey... Azzy,” Chara giggled, and Asriel turned toward them eagerly, excited to see what they had drawn. He grimaced in confusion when his eyes landed on the paper they shoved in front of his face. It was simply a drawing of themself with bright red eyes and a gross, drippy smile.

“What?” he cocked his head to the side, and they giggled again, as if their picture spoke for itself. They leaned in close to their brother, firmly grasping hold of his ear so they could whisper to him.

“Did you know that I’m a demon?” 

Asriel was taken aback. “What?” he repeated. Releasing a puff of breath from their nose, they rolled their eyes and let go of his ear.

“You did not know? ...It is obvious.” The remark was made to make him feel stupid, but he was too confused to feel saddened. 

“...What’s a demon?” he finally settled on asking, even if they would berate him for it. Rolling their eyes again, Chara went back to scribbling on their paper.

“A demon,” they said, their voice suddenly crisp and precise-like, the kind of voice Mom would use when teaching them, “is an evil spirit. A demon likes to possess people and torment them. They live in HELL and BURN.” their voice got deeper upon saying those two words, but they finished their statement with a small, thoughtful hum as they decided on which crayon to use next. Asriel stared at them, eyebrows drawn down to match his frown.

“Why would… why would a demon want to hurt people?” Asriel inquired. Chara pushed their bangs out of their face, keeping their hand plastered on their head so their hair would not fall back. Staring at him with their dark, chocolatey stare, they made him squirm uncomfortably. He was about to whine at them, when they smiled. It was one of their pity smiles, small, barely there at all. 

“Why do you think a demon would want to hurt people?” they finally asked. The small, furry boss monster thought about it carefully. He wanted his answer to please his sibling. 

“Maybe...they’re just sad? Or angry or confused. Like… sometimes when someone says something mean to me, even by accident, I get sort of mad. When something hurts, even if it’s deep down,” he traced the outline of his drawing with a nail, “you might want to hurt others in return. Sometimes people can do things without thinking, or meaning to do them. So… a demon might just need help, right?” he smiled, thinking he had given the correct answer, but when he looked back to Chara, he knew immediately he was wrong. 

Their bangs had fallen back over their eyes, and they looked angry. “No, dummy.” they spat. “Demons… are terrible creatures that can’t feel. They never get angry. Or confused. Or even hurt. They just like. Hurting. People.” Glaring one last time at him, his sibling turned back to their drawing, pressing down hard on their crayon, scraping it across the paper. Asriel felt himself wither and tear up. He sniffed once. The silence grew between them.

“Mom said that at everyone’s core is someone nice.” he said quietly, mostly to himself. “Things happen to people that damage and confuse, but that doesn’t mean that they’re bad people.” he sniffled again, a few tears plopping onto the table. He made sure to move his paper away from his face. Chara went still beside him. 

“Sometimes... she does not know what she is talking about,” they replied, just as quiet as he had been. “...You guys are really dumb. Humans trapped you down here... for no reason. ...How can you possible justify that?”

“They were scared.” he said simply. “Fear drives people to do irrational things...” he quoted his mother. “Don’t worry, Chara. Once we go back up to the surface, humans will see that there’s really nothing to be afraid of!” the last of his tears dried up.  
His sibling sat in silence for awhile, staring at their drawing before casually leaning toward him, tipping their chair. “So what have you drawn, you big crybaby?” Their voice was light and teasing. They had forgiven him.

“Oh! Well he’s the absolute GOD of Hyperdeath!” Asriel quickly pointed out all of his cool attacks to his best friend, who laughed and patted his head.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chara punched his gut before growling and yanking at his ear, hard. He wailed in pain, tears already dripping down his face, his breath coming in short gasps, his stomach heaving for air. 

“Stop crying!” they screeched at him before winding their arm back and smacking his face. “There!” they shouted at him as he grabbed at the cheek they had slapped. “Now you have something to cry about!” 

“Mooooom!” he bawled, calling for his parents. “DAD!” 

“You think you know everything, don’t you?” the pushed at his shoulders, and he toppled back with ease, rolling onto his side as they tightened their grip on his fur, pulling. “You don’t know ANYTHING!”

“Chara!” Mom rushed into the room, a scared look on her face, Dad close behind. Chara screamed louder when she sat behind them to wrap her arms around, gently taking their small hands in her own large paws, coaxing them to let go. 

“LET ME GO LET ME GOOO!!” they howled as Asgore worked on prying their hands off of his son, muttering soothing thoughts to everyone in his low, grumbling voice. Mom whispered things into their matted hair that only made them buck against her, hitting their head against the underside of her chin as they kicked and struggled to break free. Mom’s head snapped back in recoil and she grimaced, but held on.

Asgore finally got their hands off of him, tufts of white fur still in their clenched fists. Elbowing Toriel hard in the gut, Chara shrieked again when she still did not let go. Asriel was wailing, even as Dad picked him up to cradle him in his arms, effectively cocooning him. As he was being carried out of the room, he sobbed when he heard his sibling yell again.   
“I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!” 

It took about two hours for their screaming to finally stop. Dad had taken him for a walk to calm down, even going to get ice cream from the busy city. Seeing all the people hard at work, farming, trading, laughing, always calmed Asriel down. When they got back home, Mom was sitting in her chair, Chara in her lap, rocking slowly. 

His sibling had their eyes closed. Their hair had been brushed, their face flushed more than usual. In their hand was a wet rag, which Mom occasionally persuaded them to let go, wiping her child’s face in hopes to cool them down. A half full glass of water sat on the ground beside them.

Dinner was nice. Although Chara didn’t eat anything, as they were prone to do after an episode, they were quiet and polite. Helping Toriel in the kitchen, they trotted out with Asgore and Asriel’s plates full of warm food – Asriel’s favorite. An apology.   
When bedtime arrived, Chara crawled into their bed without any complaint, whispering something to Mom when she tucked them in. Both Mom and Dad gave Chara and their brother goodnight kisses before shutting the door softly. The glow of the star-shaped nightlight by Asriel’s bedside gave him enough light to watch them. The two kids stared at each other in the dark, their faces soft and relaxed. 

Just as Asriel was starting to snooze, he heard Chara’s sheets rustle as they climbed out of bed and over to his. They climbed in beside him as he sighed and turned onto his back. Their arms slowly wrapped around his middle, which he recognized as a hug. They very rarely hugged him. He wanted to tell them ‘I love you’, but he had a feeling it would upset them more, so instead he settled for “Goodnight”, and nodded off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Asriel watched as Mom gently rubbed at their wrists with a washcloth. Both of them were completely silent as Chara stared off into the distance. They seemed paler than usual, dark bags hanging underneath their eyes.   
Later, when they were comfy in their blanket fort, Asriel asked them why they did it. Chara stared up at him for awhile as they laid limp on the floor. They never answered. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Azzy,” they whispered, their voice rough with sickness. Their breaths rattled in their chest, and they coughed again, blood staining their cracked lips. “Asriel,” Chara said again when he shook his head. “We need to do this.” they reminded him. “We need to.”

Asriel said nothing, but sucked in a shaky breath, nodding once. He watched their face closely, their glassy eyes following his movement in return. Raising a pale, yellow stained hand, they pet his cheek softly before taking the flowers from his clinched hands, quickly shoving them in their mouth. They used to grimace at the taste, but he doubted they could taste anything at this point. 

Chara’s other hand remained draped around their heart shaped locket.

They went still for a moment, their eyes closed, and Asriel thought they were dead, but then they smiled slightly.   
“Why aren’t you happy? You are going to be free soon. ...You should be smiling.” Cracking open their eyes again, they stared at him, waiting, and he gave them his best, watery smile. Chara gave a small laugh, which quickly turned into another set of rasping coughs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The king and queen’s children were dead.

**Author's Note:**

> i've been holding onto this fic for years... back when i had a beta reader lol. figured i would one day revise it like i wanted to but who am i kidding.


End file.
